Inevitable, the way things were going. A return to the car-based pickup; a reprise of the Ford Ranchero and Chevrolet El Camino of the 1960s and '70s.

Subaru's Baja has a peppy four-cylinder engine, but not everyone likes its looks.

Subaru

And not by a Detroiter with that legacy, but rather by inventive Subaru, the company that gave us one-touch, auto-down windows as a toll-booth convenience years ago; the company that invented the sport-utility wagon market in the USA; the company that switched completely to all-wheel drive.

Subaru's latest bold move is the 2003 Baja, on sale in about two weeks. It's a unibody pickup based on the Outback station wagon.

Making Baja structurally different from conventional pickups, and making it similar to El Camino and Ranchero, Baja's cargo box is a continuous extension of the passenger compartment rather than a separate cargo bed with a gap between it and the passenger cabin. Subaru says it has reinforced the box to keep it from twisting and bending the exterior sheet metal when the box is laden and bouncing.

The worldly will note that the likes of El Camino never really vanished, existing today in Australia as popular vehicles called "utes."

But that's not what Subaru was thinking.

Peter Tenn, Subaru senior designer, says Baja's jarring look is homage to rally-race trucks. "It's supposed to look funky, look different. It doesn't fit any category, and we knew that going in. It's not like anything else on the road. And that's important to a lot of people," he says.

Target buyers: younger folks who want room in the bed for sports gear but don't need enough space for lumber, drywall and the like. They also prefer the feel and handling and fuel economy of a car, even though they want some of the utility of a pickup.

Good intentions duly noted, but Baja seems about as ugly as a Pontiac Aztek and as useless as pants without pockets. During the test drive, some folks, including young ones, even pointed and made fun of it. But — more in line with what Tenn reports — many others drooled in delight. Even some in their 30s gushed. Thumbs up, smiles, waves, that sort of thing.

Charitably, you could say that the divergent reactions prove that reasonable people often disagree on matters of taste. Bluntly, you could say that it means the age of good sense must be somewhat later in life.

Baja's rear bumper is a fat lip. The side's misshapen plastic body cladding would make even Pontiac blush. The graceless rear-window pillar is an unfortunate throwback to 1980s GM sedans.

There's too little legroom in back for most adults. In fact, Baja has about 6% less passenger space than an Outback wagon, even though Baja is longer, wider and taller.

Baja's 41.5-inch cargo bed is too small for the kind of loads you think of in the same sentence as "pickup." And the optional aluminum-tube bed extender, when stored in the bed between uses, leaves barely enough uninterrupted cargo space to haul home a couple of on-sale ceiling fans from Home Depot. Most things that fit the bed could as easily, and more securely, be toted in a wagon.

And if all that weren't enough to put you off, the no-passing-zone-yellow that'll be the hot color on the Baja is simply scary.

But, dang, the thing drives sweetly.

Most amazing is the four-cylinder engine teamed with manual transmission. It feels lukewarm in other Subarus, but it seemed to sling the pre-production test vehicle delightfully. It's unclear why. Baja weighs 40 to 60 pounds more than the Outback wagon. And Baja uses the same manual transmission and the same gear ratios as the wagon. No reason in the realm of physics that Baja should feel sprightlier.

Subaru agrees that the peppiness is illusory, and Tenn suggests it's because "when you get into the Baja, you're in a totally different mindset."

Baja also drives easily in most slug-along traffic. The clutch on the manual-shift test vehicle engaged smoothly, and pedal effort was light. The hitch is jerkiness at slow crawling, when you alternate between no throttle and a little throttle.

The always-on, all-wheel-drive (AWD) system eliminated wheelspin in pouring rain and, because it's the same as on Outback, can be assumed to have considerable prowess in snow and mud, too.

In fact, Subaru AWD deserves a dedicated moment. There are two systems. Who else would bother with that?

The one used with manual transmission splits power 50/50 front/rear in normal driving, and theoretically could send 100% to either end if the opposite end had no traction. The AWD with automatic is more a front-drive setup, running roughly 90% of the power to the front wheels normally, shifting as much as half the engine's power to each end in demanding conditions.

Either AWD system is aided by a standard limited-slip rear differential, a feature that's optional or not available on much fancier machines.

If there's no slip-limiting mechanism on one of the differentials, you wind up with no-wheel drive if one front and one rear wheel lose traction simultaneously. Bravo, Subaru.

The Switchback system you'll hear touted is marketing-speak for two simple features. The back seat folds flat — quite easily, it's worth noting — for extra cargo room inside the truck. And a pass-through portal behind the rear seat, as you'd get in most modern sedans, can be opened to lengthen the cargo space.

Both are thoughtful, handy features but seem less than what's implied by the term Switchback system.

Two-tone leather seats are pretty comfortable, though some will find the lumbar support more like a bump that cannot be banished. The fat, two-tone, leather-wrapped steering wheel is good to handle if not great to see.

Instruments and controls are well-placed, easy to read and use, and generally project a premium aura, except for stiffness in the climate control knobs.

The radio pulls in stations unfound by tuners in pricier vehicles.

Cubbies are close to adequate for cell phones and other detritus of daily doing. Cup holders are midsize, so smaller containers tip and spill, while big sports drinks don't fit.

What is it? Light-duty, four-passenger, pickup with carlike, unibody construction based on the Legacy Outback station wagon, manufactured at Lafayette, Ind., on the same line as Legacy and Outback models.